The present invention relates to weather strips for automobiles configured to operatively couple to flanges on peripheral edges of door openings of automobile bodies for sealing gaps between doors and bodies by making elastic contact with the doors.
As shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, a weather strip 10 for an automobile has been configured to operatively couple to a peripheral edge 100 of an opening of an automobile body corresponding to a side door 200 (see, for example, Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. H07-137583). The weather strip 10 for the automobile makes elastic contact with the side door 200 when the side door 200 is in a closed position.
As shown in FIG. 8, the weather strip 10 for the automobile includes an installation base member 11 and a hollow seal member 12 integrally molded with the installation base member 11. The installation base member 11 has a substantially U-shape cross section and is inserted over a flange 101 from an opening thereof. The flange 101 is formed along the peripheral edge 100 of the opening of the automobile body corresponding to the door 200. The hollow seal member 12 is provided on an outer-cabin side of the installation base member 11 and is configured to make elastic contact with the door 200 for sealing a gap between the door 200 and the body. The installation base member 11 has a core 13 buried therein.
The hollow seal member 12, which protrudes outwardly toward an exterior of the automobile, of the weather strip 10 for the automobile includes sponge material. On a region 130 (a region on the automobile body facing a lower rear side of a front door 200) in FIG. 7, parts of human bodies or luggage may rub against the hollow seal member 12 while passengers are getting in or getting off the automobiles. More specifically, clothes (such as trousers) may rub against the hollow seal member 12 for friction between the human bodies such as backs or hips and the hollow seal member 12. When the friction is larger between the human bodies and the hollow seal member 12, the hollow seal member 12 is worn away and finally damaged, with flaws or holes for example. Especially, a part of the hollow seal member 12, which abuts with the human bodies or the luggage while passengers are getting in or getting off the automobiles, is subjected to hard rub or abrasion, and therefore has to be fortified.
In this connection, it has been proposed to cover a whole surface of the hollow seal member 12 with a film which includes solid rubber material. Unfortunately, however, this configuration often causes folding wrinkles on the surface of the hollow seal member 12 and degrades door closability.
Also, Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. H07-137583 discloses the hollow seal member 12 which includes the sponge rubber having specific gravity that falls within a range of 0.9±0.1 for improving abrasion-resistant property and preventing the folding wrinkles.
Unfortunately, however, the hollow seal member 12 of Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. H07-137583 may still be damaged for insufficient strength against strong impact from the parts of human bodies 500 or the luggage. Specifically, while the specific gravity of the hollow seal member 12 of Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. H07-137583 is higher than prior arts, the resultant hollow seal member 12 includes the sponge rubber in the same manner as the prior arts.
Measures against the abrasion also include covering the hollow seal member 12 with protective tape. But the protective tape is very expensive. Also, it takes a lot of time to arrange the protective tape, which lowers mass productivity.
In case of the weather strip, in which an end of an interior material is inserted between the installation base member 11 and the hollow seal member 12, the hollow seal member 12 is easily damaged. The interior material of this configuration extends outwardly from an interior of the automobile toward an exterior of the automobile. With this configuration, as the parts of human bodies 500 or the luggage come into contact with the hollow seal member 12, the hollow seal member 12, which is deformed, is strongly pressed against the end of the interior material. Since pressure concentrates on a point of contact of the hollow seal member 12 with the end of the interior material, the hollow seal member 12 is easily damaged.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide the weather strips for automobiles improved in the abrasion-resistant property of the hollow seal members.